It is well known to provide flexible carriers for tools or other implements in the form of a roll-up sheet of flexible material, containing internal pockets in which the tools or other implements can be stored. One prior patent exemplifying this previous construction is U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,244, issued July 1, 1980 to Westrick.
Two other patents of interest in this regard are U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,612, issued June 15, 1982 to Beato, and U.S. Pat. 1,673,602, issued June 12, 1928 to Sternthal.
It is also well known to utilize the material sold commercially under the name Velcro, consisting of cooperating strips or sheets of adhesive material, one of the materials having tiny plastic hooks extending therefrom, the other material having tiny plastic loops extending therefrom. When pressed together, the hooks engage the loops, and retain the two materials together. The hooks and loops can be disengaged from each other upon the application of a sufficient separating force. It is further known to utilize Velcro-type material to secure implements against supporting strips or sheets. Two patents exemplifying this prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,341, issued June 11, 1968 to Mates et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,818, issued Feb. 27, 1968 to Perr.
I have perceived a need for a versatile flexible implement carrier of the roll-up variety which is superior to the carriers shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,210,244, 4,334,612 and 1,673,602, and I have discovered a novel and unobvious way to utilize Velcro-type material to accomplish this purpose. The novel construction does not consist simply in applying the Velcro fastening principle shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,341 to the rectangular carrier shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,244. It might alleged to be obvious to replace the internal pockets of U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,244 with the fastening arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,341 or in U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,818. However, I have gone further than such a simple substitution, by providing Velcro strips not only on the inside surface of the rectangular carrier, but on the outside surface as well, in precise juxtaposition with the inside strips. The strips on one surface are of the opposite material to the strips on the other surface. By arranging for precise juxtaposition of the strips on either surface of the sheet-like carrier, the carrier itself becomes infinitely adjustable because when it is rolled up upon itself in spiral fashion, the inside strips marry up with the outside strips regardless of how few or how many tools or other implements the carrier contains. I further provide, in a preferred embodiment, a flexible handle on the outside surface of the carrier adjacent one of the ends thereof, to facilitate transportation. The individual tools or other implements have attached thereto smaller pieces of the same Velcro substance as is found on the outside surface of the flexible carrier, thus allowing the tools to be adhered to the Velcro on the inside of the carrier.